Alphabeta Math
LemmaStatement: AI-adaptedProof: AI-adaptedprecheck passjudge pass (openai/gpt-5.4)verified 2026-07-26 (claude-opus-5)
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The first chip identifies the source of the statement or construction; the second identifies the source of its local proof or verification.

  • Literature-sourced: the exact statement appears in a cited source; only wording and notation differ.
  • AI-adapted: a semantically identical restatement of literature-sourced material, modulo indexing, notation, and boundary cases adopted by the library.
  • AI-generated: a genuinely novel statement formulated by AI, with no source for the claim itself.

These labels describe origin, not correctness: citations and verification chips remain separate evidence.

Everything in M is comparable to an extremal element

Statement

Let (P,≤) be a chain-complete poset, f:P→P progressive, M the smallest admissible set, and x∈M extremal (Extremal element and its cut (Bourbaki–Witt)). Then Mx=M; that is, for every y∈M, either y≤x or f(x)≤y.

Facts & Assumptions

Given: A chain-complete poset (P,≤), a progressive f:P→P, the smallest admissible set M, and an extremal x∈M.

[A1]

Mx={z∈M:z≤x or f(x)≤z}, so Mx⊆M by construction (Extremal element and its cut (Bourbaki–Witt)).

[L1]
[L2]

Mx is closed under suprema of its chains (The cut at an extremal element is closed under chain suprema).

[L3]

M is contained in every admissible subset of P (A smallest admissible set exists).

[L4]

A subset is admissible when it is closed under f and under suprema of its chains (Admissible subset (Bourbaki–Witt)).

Proof

technique · direct
1.1L1

Mx is closed under f.

1.2L2

Mx is closed under suprema of its chains.

2.1step 1.1step 1.2L4

So Mx is an admissible subset of P.

3.1step 2.1L3

By minimality of M, every admissible subset contains M, so M⊆Mx.

4.1step 3.1A1

Together with Mx⊆M this gives Mx=M.

5.1step 4.1A1∎

Unfolding the definition of Mx, every y∈M satisfies y≤x or f(x)≤y.

Remarks

  • This is the first payoff of minimality, and the pattern is worth naming: to prove that everything in M has a property, collect the elements that have it, show the collection is admissible, and let minimality do the rest. The same move proves Every element of M is extremal.
  • The conclusion is a comparability statement with a gap. It says nothing about elements strictly between x and f(x), and indeed the content of the lemma is that M has none: an element of M lies at or below x, or at or above f(x), never inside.
  • The hypothesis that x is extremal is doing real work and cannot be dropped. It is what Every element of M is extremal later supplies for every element, which is what turns this one-sided statement into total comparability (The smallest admissible set is a chain).

Depends on

Dependency tree · 2 levels

Sources